


When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing

by akimikono



Series: Tumblr Requests [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gai and Lee are enthusiastic about everything it's awesome, Genma is Sneaky, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Fourth Shinobi War, Reader-Insert, Shinobi Ball, Shinobi Dance, dance, reader is shy, shy reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-01-20 03:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12424383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akimikono/pseuds/akimikono
Summary: Tsunade decides it's a good idea to throw a Shinobi Dance for all the ninja in the village, and hires you - a shy dance instructor - to give mandatory dance lessons to the shinobi. To your surprise, there's one ninja who shows up with a proposition for you. Genma's not exactly how you imagined him to be ... and this definitely isn't how you imagined your dance lesson to go.(Tumblr request from litkatkim)





	1. I Dreamt About You Nearly Every Night This Week

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a one-shot scenario requested by litkatkim on Tumblr. She requested a part 2, which will be written sometime later after I've caught up on my other writing prompts for October! I also got some help on how to write Genma from reading dattebayohcs-archive's work!

 

Your entire body stiffened at the solid knock on the front door of your studio, signaling someone’s unexpected arrival. You’d been hired a little more than a week earlier to give a few dancing lessons to some of the shinobi in the village for the upcoming dance that the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, had arranged. When she’d called you up the week before, she explained that she wanted the residents of Konoha - especially the ninja who had risked their lives during the war - to know that they were moving forward and leaving the dark past behind. While many people were still recovering emotionally and physically from the war, and bits of the village were still in disrepair, enough time had passed for something as seemingly frivolous as a Shinobi Ball to be held.

“It will be shinobi only,” Tsunade had explained to you very seriously. “I thought it’d be nice to have something just for them. However … These are trained soldiers of war. Many of them won’t be willing to go to these lessons, but I’ve made them mandatory for that very reason. I really don’t want to see a bunch of grown adults stumbling around like pre-teens, stepping on each other’s toes and falling over themselves. Everyone has to have at least a full week of lessons, and after that they can get extra lessons from you if they want.”

Tsunade had seemed very sorry that you were the only person in charge of teaching dozens of shinobi how to dance, but your studio was the only one left standing in the village - and since dance lessons weren’t a priority immediately after the war, you were the only instructor who was still teaching. But every one of the ninja who’d shown up for the past lessons had been more or less very kind and willing to work with you - and, surprisingly, with each other. The ones most enthusiastic about learning to dance were the ones you had come to know as Gai and Lee. They were both already incredibly flexible and agile (even with Gai’s leg in a cast), eager to learn the even steps and calculated movements of the dances on the list Tsunade had drawn up. (More accurately, the list her assistant Shizune had drawn up.)

Thankfully, Gai and Lee’s overenthusiastic participation in every lesson - and their natural talent for many of the dances - had distracted most of the others into watching them, leaving you without a dozen pairs of eyes on you. It also helped that many of the shinobi were more interested in dancing with one another (an exuberant blonde had been more than willing to partner up with a girl with pink hair “for old time’s sake”), and some of them seemed to know the basics of dance pretty well (a silver-haired jonin turned away when you asked where he learned how to dance and he merely mumbled, “I’ve had … a lot of diverse training since I was a child”).

But as the days went on, fewer and fewer shinobi showed up for the full lessons. Each one had been given a piece of paper that Tsunade asked you to mark with your signature to prove they’d shown up.

“It doesn’t say we have to stay for the whole lesson,” the one you’d learned was Izumo said as he held out his slip. “Just that we have to show up. We’ve shown up. Not that we don’t like it here,” he motioned to the dim studio, hot with body heat and humid with sweat, “but we’ve got a lot of important things to do. I think we’ve learned everything we can from you, so maybe just … put your initial next to the rest of the days? Thanks.”

You’d complied with Izumo and Kotetsu who opted out after the second day, and once the others realized how easy it was to get out of the lessons, they soon followed suit and abandoned the class. Yesterday was the final day of mandatory lessons and only Gai and Lee had shown up, as faithful as ever, dressed in green jumpsuits and wearing their toothy grins. Not even the stoic Kakashi, who had a natural rhythm he was almost ashamed of, had bothered to show up (not that he showed up on time for the lessons in the first place). As far as you knew, no one had signed up for extra lessons and no civilian in the village had stopped by your studio since before the war.

You steeled your nerves, strode over to the door, and did your best to yank it open. It sat crooked on its hinges and the top corner was shoved tightly against the jamb, forcing you to brace one hand on the wall and use your entire body’s strength to wrench it open. It flew back, slamming against the wall, and sent you stumbling back a few steps. Your face burned hot with embarrassment when you saw one of your students - one of the ones who’d dropped out halfway through - standing there, a look of mild surprise on his face.

“Sorry,” he said, chewing on the senbon between his lips, “didn’t mean to break your door.”

“N-No!” you said quickly, reaching out to place a hand on the peeling paint of the front door. “It wasn’t you. This old thing always gets stuck when the weather changes. Uhm, wh-what are you … doing here?”

The man pursed his lips together and the senbon wiggled in the air. “I’m here for a lesson, what do you think?”

You looked away when his brown eyes caught yours, a look of mischief crossing his face. “A lesson? Did the Hokage realize you dropped out and make you come back?”

“No,” he said simply, leaning against the jamb, his eyes trailing over you playfully. “As far as the Hokage’s concerned, I came to every lesson. I’m just here for the extra practice.”

You felt your hands shake as you picked at the paint on the door’s surface, letting it crack and flake to the ground. “O-Oh, well … I didn’t think anyone was interested in extra lessons. Only two people actually came to all the  _mandatory_ ones, anyway …”

“It didn’t hurt your feelings, did it?”

Quickly, you turned to him with wide eyes to see his face was serious, his eyes dark. “What? Hurt my feelings? No!”

“Oh, good. I thought maybe …” He cleared his throat, adjusting the senbon in his mouth. “So what? Are you gonna make me stand out here all night? We can dance in the street, I don’t mind. Do you?”

Your ears turned pink and you shuffled away from the door, awkwardly motioning him inside the cool building. “S-Sorry about that. I don’t normally … er, what dance did you …?”

Genma grabbed the edge of the door and gave it a good once-over. It was clearly in poor condition and not at all sized correctly for its frame. Biting his tongue from making a rude comment, he pushed it closed and it slammed shut, wedging itself closed too tightly. You jumped at the noise and Genma now bit his tongue to keep from cursing. “Uh … Whichever one you want. I think I dropped out after the third day, right? So, whatever you taught after that.”

You fought the urge to give the man an unimpressed look. If he would’ve just shown up in the first place … “Okay, so what do you remember from the lessons you  _did_  go to? We can start from there and continue.”

Genma gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. “To be quite honest, I don’t remember much. Do you think we could start over?”

Paling, your shoulders dropped and you looked at the man in disbelief - but the puppy dog look he gave you sent a hot blush across your face. You turned stiffly and mumbled an unconvincing “sure…”

Walking to the center of the room and standing to face the wall of glinting mirrors, you watched in the reflection as Genma followed you, a flirtatious smirk across his face. Did he have any other expression?

“Sure is lonely here,” he said, his eyes moving up to look at you in the mirrors. Even if the mirrors hadn’t been there, you would’ve been able to tell he was approaching. The floorboards underneath you shifted and creaked under his weight and you could feel the heat radiating off of his body as he approached; he was like a human space heater.

“Mhm,” you said, already regretting this decision. You couldn’t deny that the older man was incredibly attractive and the ever-present smirk on his face made your stomach turn to butterflies, but your crippling shyness wouldn’t allow you to entertain such thoughts without a nice layer of blush covering your face. You were sure that by now he’d noticed the embarrassing stutter that cropped up whenever you spoke, a side effect as your brain malfunctioned from his cuteness. Your heart fluttered in your chest as you turned slowly to face him, keeping your eyes away from his. Reaching out with your left arm, you took his hand in yours and gently folded your fingers between his. He watched you closely with entertainment written all over his face - without even looking at him, you could just  _feel_ his amusement. Desperately trying to act professionally, you guided his other hand to your waist.

“P-Put your hands, um … here,” you mumbled.

“Ooh, saucy,” he teased when his fingers brushed against your hip. You felt your entire body burn and you quickly adjusted his position, moving his hand up higher on your waist.

“S-Sorry, I m-meant h-here …”

“That’s okay,” he said, settling his thumb under one of your ribs. “I like this position better anyway.”

Jell-O didn’t shake as much as your legs were in this moment. You blinked rapidly, the studio suddenly far too hot and small, your hands trembling violently.

“You’re shaking,” he murmured, the senbon rolling over his pink lips. “Am I making you nervous? Is it this?” He bit down on the needle so it turned upwards, shining in the overhead lights. “I can put it away if you want. But, trust me, I’ve never harmed anyone with this I didn’t intend to.”

“N-No, it’s f-fine,” you muttered. “Take a step back.”

“Huh? Am I too close?” He looked at the space between you two, your hips nearly touching, his chest hovering before your face. “I thought we were supposed to be this close for this dance.”

“I mean … that’s the first move - you take a-a step back. And then you take a step to your left.”

“Right.” Genma grasped your hand and waist a bit tighter, pulling you with him as he stepped backwards, slowly going through the dance with ease. When you looked up at him in surprise, the corner of his lips pulled up in a smile. “Sorry,” he said, “I guess I remembered more than I thought.”

Genma led you around the studio and you almost immediately relinquished power to him, allowing yourself to follow in his graceful footsteps around the creaking floor. For a brief moment your eyes closed and you took in everything about the man you were with. His palms were calloused and dry - undoubtedly from years of fighting and training with weapons; his shirt smelled like woodsmoke; and his breath was soft as it brushed against your hair. The  _click_  of the senbon was easy to hear as he bit down on it and rolled it over his tongue to the other side of his mouth. Never once did you dare to look up, instead keeping your eyes on the middle of his chest. Your mind reeled at the grace with which he spun you around the room and you could sense that he was staring at you - smirking,  _mocking you._ He had come here fully knowing how to dance; he was just here to get a reaction out of you. He’d known from the first day how shy you were - he was one of the ones who’d made comments about how softly you spoke and how you must’ve been afraid of your own voice. Truly you were afraid of being heard, and subsequently judged, by the disgruntled ninja who were being forced to take your lessons. He did all of this just to make fun of you.

When you stopped moving, Genma’s hands remained on your body and he chewed on the needle for a while before saying, “So, how was that? D’you think we can move onto something more complex? I heard you taught Gai something that involved some sort of flip at the end? I don’t know how  _he_  did it - but I’m sure he’d figure out a way …”

You shrunk back from Genma, prying yourself out of his grasp. “I-I think that’s enough for today. I didn’t teach him a-anything like that. The Hokage’s given me a list of dances to teach all of you, and - and they’re all pr-pretty basic. Since, uhm, … you know Gai and Rock Lee were the only ones to complete their lessons. Everyone else got about as far as you … so it doesn’t matter if - if I teach you the other dances … because you’d have no one to dance with.”

“Sure I would.”

“You’re … going to dance with Gai? You know he’s in a wheelchair, right? I kind of … had to teach him … a modified version of the dances -”

“That’s not - no.” Genma huffed, sticking his hands into his pockets. “I meant you.”

You would’ve been able to hear a pin - or senbon - drop in the silence of the room. Despite being frozen in shock, your eyes snapped open to the size of plates and your heart shot up to your throat. Did you hear that right? Genma was asking  _you_  to the dance? Finally gaining some sense back, you blinked the dryness from your eyes and looked towards the front door, a beam of early evening light filtering through the cracks in the wood.

“You - You should, uhm,” you cleared your throat and fiddled with the hem of your shirt. “You should go.”

“Wha - why? Did I say something wrong? Did I -” His eyes widened slightly and he took a step back, his lips pressing tightly together to keep the senbon from falling out of his mouth. “I’m sorry, did I do something to offend you? If I did, then —”

“I can’t,” you said suddenly, catching him off guard. “I can’t go with you.”

“Why? Did - oh …” He tried to hide the disappointment on his face. “Somebody else asked you, huh? I should’ve known. I guess that’s what I get for dropping the lessons. Do you mind my asking - who was it?”

“Huh?”

“Who asked you? Don’t tell me it was Gai. He already has this ‘eternal rivalry’ thing going on with Kakashi, I don’t need him starting it with me too if he finds out I wanted to ask you.”

“No, I - I’m not going with anybody.”

“Oh! So you’re free! Wait - then why aren’t you going with me?”

Racking your mind for a legitimate excuse, you folded your arms across your chest and headed for the front door. “It’s - It’s a shinobi-only dance. The Hokage told me that b-beforehand. I’m not … a shinobi. I can’t go. Even i-if I wanted to.”

“Is that all?”

You threw a cautionary glance over your shoulder at the man and he looked relieved.

“I thought you didn’t like me or something.”

“It - uhm, I just … I-It’s not professional,” you sputtered, reaching the door and grasping the handle tightly to steady yourself. “I was hired to teach you, I can’t …”

“Oh, c’mon. Mixing business with pleasure isn’t always bad,” he mused, his footsteps echoing in the room as he drew closer. “And I’m sure the Hokage doesn’t mind if you go. I’m sure she’d be glad to have you there to correct us when we make fools out of ourselves in front of everybody.”

Your hold on the handle tightened and you wondered if you’d be able to open it in time to make a quick escape into the evening. This was too much for you to handle. It was bad enough when you were just teaching - but now he was asking you out, and you still couldn’t tell if he was mocking you or not.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” he asked, noting your shaking hands grasping at the door handle and twisting it nervously. “I’m not … I’m not going to hold you hostage here until you say yes, you know. I - jeez, you’re trembling. Am I scaring you?” Genma took a few large paces back, throwing up his hands. “I’m sorry! I promise I’m not a creep. I just …” He flipped the senbon in his mouth and looked away, a soft pink tinging the bridge of his nose. “I just really liked you, was all. I thought you were really cute and …” He trailed off, pulling the senbon from his mouth and rolling it between his fingers. “I’ll leave now. Sorry for bothering you.”

Still he stood behind you - realizing he couldn’t get past you to get outside. You released the door handle, clenching your hands into fists and turned around slowly, your head turned down. “Are you … Are you making f-fun of me?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Y-You … You dropped out of the class … after three lessons and - and now you’re showing up for extra practice. And you asked me to the dance, even though it’s only f-for shinobi. Besides, you’re - you’re way too …” You huffed and crossed your arms to keep a barrier between the man and yourself, “You’re way more attractive a-and cool than me. There’s no way you’d want to go  _anywhere_  with me. I’m - I’m just a dance instructor. If - If - If you’re just asking me as a joke, I don’t appreciate it …!”

“No, I’m not doing anything like that! I really want to go with you! I wouldn’t ask you as a joke. I mean, I’m not always the nicest but I’m not mean. At least not like that.” Genma took a few slow steps forward and you looked up to see he was smiling softly, the teasing look gone from his face. “Now that we’ve gotten that cleared up … If you’re still worried about the Hokage not letting you attend, then we’ll just skip it. We can have our own dance here - just you and me. It wouldn’t bother me any. And if the Hokage asks where we were, just tell her you were still giving me lessons and we lost track of time.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that and felt your heart flip at his grin. “If - If you’re serious, then … Okay. Sure. I’ll - I’ll go with you.”

Genma reached his hand and you hesitantly placed your fingers to his palm. “Good. Now … you really need to teach me the rest of the dances. I was born with two left feet, you know.”

“Hmm, you seem to dance pretty well …”

“That’s only because of your instruction.”

You let out another small laugh and allowed Genma to take your hand in his after he popped the senbon back between his lips, resting his other palm on your waist. “So, where did you want to begin?”

Genma squeezed your waist, “Why don’t we pick up from where I dropped out?”

“Okay … you’ll - you’ll have to stay close to me. So I can guide you properly.”

“Uh-huh.”

His shoulder rolled under your hand and he instinctively pulled you closer. Taking a long, shaky breath, you managed to say, “So for this one you need to take two steps to the right and then —”

“Don’t tell me, just show me. Go ahead and lead. I’ll follow.”

You nodded, straightening up and looking Genma in the eye. “Okay, then. But you’ll have to keep up. I won’t slow down.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less. After you.”

You weren’t sure how or why, but the moment the two of you started moving, all hesitation left your body and you found yourself gliding around the room - not sure if he was leading or you were, but it didn’t matter. Before you knew it, you’d danced well into the evening and had no intention of stopping any time soon.


	2. Shut Up and Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second and final part to litkatkim's request! You can also find my work on my Tumblr (sufferthesea)!

 You stood before Tsunade, hands wringing with nerves as Genma spoke with her seriously. He stood a few steps ahead of you, as if to protect you from the older woman’s deadpan stare. You knew this was a bad idea.

“You want to _what_?” she asked, folding her hands together and lowering her head to stare at you while Genma spoke.

“I asked her if she would go to the dance with me, and she said yes. But we wanted to get your permission first,” Genma said quickly, his senbon twitching nervously in his mouth with every word. “Or, rather, second I guess, since I already asked …”

“You do realize this dance was for the shinobi _only_?” Tsunade asked, one eyebrow raising seemingly in harsh judgment.

“Yes,” Genma said, shuffling slightly to his left to block you from view of the Hokage. “And she was worried about that! She didn’t want to go with me unless it was okay with you, Hokage-sama. So we came here to ask you for your permission.”

Tsunade sighed heavily and sat up, folding her arms across her chest and looking from Genma to you, unimpressed. “You sound like a teenager asking to take my kid out to the movies or something. You’re not sixteen, Genma. And she’s not my kid. I hired her as a dance instructor, and I think it’s fine if she wants to go to the dance with you - even though she’s not a shinobi. Besides,” Tsunade gave a knowing smile to you, “I’m sure that it’d be good having her there. She can correct any missteps - and I’m sure there’ll be plenty.”

You bowed deeply, feeling your face flush hot. “Thank you, Hokage-sama! I appreciate it a lot!”

Genma bowed as well. “Thank you,” he said.

“Just don’t mess around,” Tsunade called as Genma ushered you towards the door. “I want you two to be at the dance! If I don’t see you, I’ll send ANBU after you to track you down. Got it?”

Fear struck you at the word _ANBU_. You weren’t entirely sure what it meant, but it didn’t sound good - especially if they were supposed to _track you down._

“Yes, Hokage-sama,” Genma called out before shoving you through the open door and down the hall. “C’mon, let’s hurry up.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re got to get you something to wear.” He tugged at your sleeve and you pulled away in embarrassment. “I mean, not that this isn’t cute but … you’ve got to dress up. It’s a dance.”

“I know it’s a dance,” you said a bit defensively, hugging yourself and leaning away from Genma. “But I … I’m not sure how much I like the idea of going shopping … with you.”

“Well that’s mean.”

You shook your head, turning to face him once you left the stairs and your feet met the hard-packed earth. “I just … You don’t want to go shopping with me!”

“I don’t want to go, or you don’t want me to go?”

You turned away and shrugged. “B-Both?”

Genma rolled his senbon over his tongue and shrugged. “Alright. I respect that. But I’m gonna ignore it.”

“Huh?” you asked, turning to look at him.

He grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards the shops. “We’ve only got a few hours to go shopping. It took you so long to get the nerve up to ask Tsunade about even going, that we wasted a lot of valuable time.”

“Sorry …”

“Don’t worry about it. If I were you, I’d be intimidated if I was asked out by a guy as handsome as myself, too.” He grinned wide, wiggling his eyebrows. You blushed and socked him in the arm.

“Knock it o-off! You’re not as f-funny as you think.”

“Really? That’s kind of a shame, because I think I’m hilarious.” His smile told you he was teasing and you rolled your eyes, still trying to process the fact that a guy like him wanted anything to do with you. It seemed so strange that he’d even want to talk to you, and yet here he was - escorting you to a shop so you could pick out a dress for the Shinobi Ball, something you never imagined you’d ever attend. Genma let go of your wrist and strolled alongside you comfortably, turning his head up to look at the afternoon sky. You took a moment to admire him, smiling softly as he chewed on the senbon then pursed his lips together and let out a whistle. Whatever Genma saw in you, you were glad he did see it because this was a moment you never would have wanted to miss.

* * *

“I’m not sure I … You can’t!” you protested, clutching at the silky folds of the dress you wore. “You can’t buy this for me!”

“Why not? You can’t afford it.”

“H-Hey …”

“That’s not what I meant! I mean, you’re a _dance instructor_ in a shinobi village. A village that’s still recovering from a _war_. And I know for a fact that business for you hasn’t been all that frequent since the war _started_. I just want to do something nice for you, since I’m the one who asked you to go with me …” He reached out and looked at the price tag. Disguising his surprise with a couch, he dropped the tag and shrugged. “It’s not too expensive! It’s fine. But you gotta make sure - is this one you want?”

“Genma -”

“Is this the one you want?”

You turned to look at yourself in the full-body mirror, examining the soft fabric flowing around you. It complimented your skin tone nicely and your eyes seemed to shine in the lights framing the mirror, though you were partially convinced it was from how happy you were. You were absolutely glowing and a happy smile spread across your face as you caught sight of Genma standing behind you in the mirror, looking at you with admiration. Blushing warmly, you rubbed your arms and turned around.

“Yes,” you murmured, “this is the one I want.”

“Good,” Genma said, grinning. “I hoped so. Alright, go get changed and we’ll check out, huh?”

“Okay,” you said before heading back into the stall to change back into your clothes.

“And you’re _absolutely sure_?” Genma asked through the door.

“Are you trying to make me doubt myself? Because it’s working.”

“No - not that! But this shop has a No Returns policy, so …”

“Y-Yes, then! I’m sure! Absolutely!”

“Okay … good. Uhm … I’ll go wait up front for you.”

You sighed, looking at yourself in the mirrors lining the walls of the changing room. You turned around, inspecting yourself from every angle. _Was_ this the dress you wanted? Pushing out all the negative thoughts and guilt that clouded your mind, you stared at yourself from every angle in the small room and nodded firmly. Yes. This was the dress. This was _your_ dress.

Not wanting to keep Genma waiting any longer, you quickly changed clothes and joined him up front, the dress draped delicately over your arm.

* * *

 The dance was being held at one of the buildings reconstructed by Yamato. It had been decorated with paper lanterns, stone statues of lucky animals, and one corner held a small altar with burning incense so each guest could pay respects for every life lost in the war. The building smelled like jasmine and vanilla, but it wasn’t overpowering. Dozens of shinobi had already arrived and were dressed in uncomfortably formal attire. No one looked pleased and they were all standing off to the side, muttering under their breaths about “wasting time” and how it was “silly” this had been mandatory. Gai was there, looking surprisingly dapper in a tuxedo with a pressed white shirt and a flashy green tie. He smiled brightly as you arrived, looking skittish and embarrassed to be surrounded by such powerful ninja.

“Hello!” Gai called, waving you over to the dessert table he was sitting beside in his wheelchair. Kakashi was lounging there too, nose pressed into the pages of his book. He too was dressed in a suit, but had a smooth black mask to match. You and Genma quickly walked over to the pair and you bowed in greeting; Genma merely gave a nod and Kakashi waved back curtly.

“You look radiant,” Gai said, beaming. “We had no idea you would be here! But it’s a pleasant surprise! Are you here to upstage us all? You know, I’ve still been practicing. This little injury can’t keep me down,” he said as he tapped on his wrapped leg. “Right, Kakashi?”

The silver-haired jonin sighed “He’s been insisting we all practice together.”

“Oh good,” you said, lighting up. “So all my hard work hasn’t gone to waste! Thank you, Gai. I appreciate it.”

Kakashi blushed in embarrassment and looked away. “I - I didn’t say it was a _waste_ to practice …”

“Of course!” Gai shouted, giving you a thumbs up. “And I see - are you two together?”

You blushed hard but Genma stepped closer to throw an arm around your shoulder. “I asked her to the dance and she said yes,” he replied.

“Good for you!” Gai smiled. “I think you’re just about the only ones to get a date.” He looked around the room at the other shinobi and shook his head. “It’s a bit pathetic isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” you began, following his gaze. Your face fell when you saw that everyone was standing around on the outskirts of the dance floor, looking miserable and awkward. You saw Iruka was trying to hide from a hoard of some of the older retired kunoichi who had set their sights on him. Yamato was standing by himself, looking the most uncomfortable in a suit, talking to somebody about how he’d made the building they were in - and the table they were using - and the chairs they were sitting in …

“Well?” Genma asked, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Huh?” you said, turning to look at him.

“What do you say? No one else is going to start dancing without some incentive. _You’re_ the dance instructor. Why don’t you show them what all those lessons were for?” He held out his hand and you tentatively took it, squeezing his fingers in yours.

“Alright … uhm, who’s leading this time?”

Genma smirked and quirked one eyebrow. “Does it matter?”

Rolling your eyes, you turned to face him and placed your hand on his shoulder, his hand finding a place on your waist. “Fine, then. I guess we’ll start and see where it goes …”

“Sounds good to me.”

“We’ll do the first dance we learned … is that okay?”

“You’re the instructor.”

“Yeah, but you’re my date.”

“Fair enough. It’s fine with me. That’s a dance we all attended classes for. Maybe we can encourage them to join.”

You laughed softly and nodded. “Sure. We’ll go with that.” Slowly you took the lead, guiding Genma out towards the dance floor in small, graceful steps. He followed suit, relinquishing leadership to you as he’d done before. The music playing softly overhead didn’t match your pace nor your dance, and you tried to tune it out to count the steps as you moved around the polished floor. As you spun around, you caught sight of the rest of the shinobi staring at you and you tripped over Genma’s feet and stopped, looking down in horror. Your face burned hot at the realization that _every single person in the room was watching you._

“Is something wrong?” Genma asked, trying to see your face.

You shook your head quickly, standing up and brushing your hair back. “I-It’s fine! I just got, uhm … c-caught up in … I was just di-distracted, was all …”

“Right. That’s okay. Do you want to pick up where we left off?”

“Su-Sure.” Your hands shook as you took your place flush against him again, now completely aware of everyone staring at you. But unlike your dance lessons from before, these ninja wouldn’t just up and leave the building. Tsunade was somewhere among the crowd watching, waiting, with hawk eyes to catch anyone trying to escape early.

Hesitantly, you both began your dance around the room, less graceful this time around now that you were aware you were being watched. Your body tensed every time your eyes shifted from Genma’s chest to over his shoulder. Gai was giving you the biggest grin you’d ever seen and two thumbs up, but everyone else seemed bored. At least they weren’t making fun of you … You tripped again, your mind caught up in the idea of all the shinobi laughing at you and you buried your face in your hands.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Genma said, rolling the senbon around in his mouth. “You’re just nervous is all. I think everyone is. Why don’t we get a few more people out here and we can -?”

“No,” you said suddenly. “No, I - I’m … I’m done … for now.”

“But I -”

You shook your head, gathering up your skirt and hurrying off of the dance floor and into the dimly lit edges of the room. Genma sighed heavily and followed after you.

“Lovers’ quarrel,” you heard someone mutter under their breath when you passed by. Though their tone was joking you couldn’t help but feel even more embarrassed. Not only had they seen you dancing _and_ tripping, but they’d seen you run off without your date too. This was getting worse and worse by the second.

“That was an absolutely lovely dance,” Gai said when you brushed past him to get to the dessert table. “Your moves were so elegant and flawless!”

“Hm,” Kakashi added, turning back to his book.

“Th-Thanks,” you muttered, unable to look at either of them.

“Just promise me one thing,” Gai said, reaching out to touch your arm. You turned to look at him, confused. He grinned and his eyes closed tight, “Promise me you’ll save the last dance for me!”

Giving a forced giggle, you nodded. “Sure. I’ll do that …” Unfortunately Gai didn’t know that that probably _was_ your last dance for the evening. You couldn’t imagine going back out there to make a fool of yourself again. Instead, you’d drown your sorrows in chocolate and sweet red bean cakes. You fiddled with a tray of sweets while the rest of the shinobi continued to mill about uncomfortably. Genma appeared before you on the other side of the table and cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you want to dance? Is it me? I know I didn’t get in as much practice as I should’ve but, heh, I thought our private lessons were pretty useful …” He grinned teasingly, but you weren’t amused.

Turning away, you folded your arms across your chest. “D-Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Say stuff like that! I-In front of people … You’re … you’re trying to embarrass me.”

Genma’s expression shifted from entertainment to surprise. “No - No I’m not! I just don’t know why you’re so embarrassed. I thought we were having a good time. I mean, you may have tripped up a few times but it was going pretty well. What changed?”

You motioned towards the crowd of shinobi and backed up against the wall. “They’re all watching me.”

“And?”

“ _And_? And they’re - they’re watching _me_! I don’t want to dance in front of so many people … I’ve already messed up twice.”

“Trust me, any one of these guys would - and probably will - mess up way more than twice. Besides, I think they were all staring at you because of how beautiful you look and how well you dance.”

You flattened your hands against your thighs, feeling the silk of your dress, and shook your head. “You’re just saying that.”

“I am saying it. Because it’s true. Look at you! I bet everyone’s jealous I got to go with you.”

Blushing, you chewed on your bottom lip and looked up at him cautiously. “I don’t think that’s true … but, I … uhm, thank you.”

Genma raised an eyebrow. “Whatever. You just don’t see yourself from my perspective. I’d be jealous if someone else went with you.” He made his way around the dessert table and reached down to take one of your hands in his. “You’ve spent a week giving us all lessons for this very moment. Now you get to be here. Who cares if no one else dances? Who cares if they all watch? I just wanna dance with you tonight.” He looked into your eyes, his mouth curving into a soft, genuine smile. “Will you dance with me tonight?”

A happy laugh escaped your lips as you grabbed his other hand and pulled him closer, resting your head against his chest. “Yes,” you said. “I will.”

“Good!” Genma gently led you towards the dance floor. “Let’s show these losers what real dancing is, huh?” He placed a hand on your waist and pulled you closer. “Just keep your eyes on me and don’t mind anyone else. Okay?”

“Okay …”

Swiftly, he took the lead and guided you around the room. Your eyes locked onto his, warm and comforting and reassuring. Your hand gripped his, he pulled you even closer, and rest of the room melted away. It didn’t matter if everyone in the entire village was watching you. All that mattered was you and Genma.

You threw one glance over his shoulder and laughed at the expression on Gai’s face - some mix of excitement for getting to see you dance again and jealousy for not being able to participate. Genma followed your gaze and gave a quick nod to the wheelchair-bound shinobi.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll make sure you get the last dance with her.” Turning back to you, he leaned down and softly whispered, “But all the other dances are mine.”

Your eyes fluttered closed and you leaned your head against his shoulder. “Genma?”

“Yeah?”

“Just shut up and dance.”


End file.
